Maybe your regs are different over there, but here sailing boats under 7 metres long only need to display an all-round white light.

IMO, fitting port & starboard nav lights are going to be ineffective anyway being so close to water level (even on the stalks shown in the video), and more importantly, potentially introduce a lot of complication with wiring etc.

I thought about this a lot, and decided to fit a halyard to a PVC pipe fitting I attached to the masthead (which also carries my wind indicator). The bottom of the halyard goes to a second pulley connected by shock cord to the furling drum, providing tension to the halyard. A strategically-placed knot in the halyard limits upwards movement of the light, so it clears the masthead without interfering with the wind indicator. (Incidentally, the existence of this halyard provides a graphic view of mast bend when under sail as it moves away from the mast as it bends- a collateral bonus)

I attach my battery-powered masthead light, I Dremeled out two keyholes on the mounting pipe, with the wider ends facing inwards. I tied two knots in the halyard, and when I push the knots through the keyholes, the light is then held to the halyard ready for hoisting.

Next bonus is that the light, while predominantly shining horizontally, spills just enough light above to illuminate the retro-reflective ends of the wind indicator arrow. As well, the body of the light prevents me seeing the light directly, this preserving my night vision.(before I fitted the upper pulley and halyard)Win win win!

For night sailing I also have a waterproof torch handy, plus a headlamp. My hull has retro-reflective squares along the rear which also help with visibility in the dark. In the right conditions, these small squares can even "light up" during daytime.

Unless required by law, be careful fully decking out your AI or TI with nav. lights. We had a long discussion a few years ago on a forum (here or KFS) and the outcome was a concern that in the dark other boats might consider you bigger and faster than you are and expect you to be able to get out of their way much faster than possible.

Here in Hawaii all that is required is a bright white light to shine if anyone gets near.

Interestingly in looking around at prices one sees that because the product is made in Europe if you buy via Railblaza it is double the price (although you have the railblaza male mount on the bottom) presumably because the little light is being flown around the world before it gets back to you.

I am going to adapt the standard mount to fit the panfish camera pole that i have on the presumption that i wont be filming at the same time as needing a light.

I was thinking Nav lites would work but then I played with a bright flashlight shining within the hull at night. I have a papaya so the yellow glows nicely I was thinking that it would give a boater a better idea of what they were heading towards than just a plain white light. I use the Visi Carbon flag but am concerned cause of accidents happening between larger boats at night on the lake I live on.

I was looking at the LED bait tank lights or sail mast spreader lights avail at West Marine and using a simple 12V battery

Chopcat :This might sound goofy (redneck) but I was thinking about taking one of those solar powered lights that you put in your yard, and figuring out a way to waterproof them a little better (might not need to, they are for outside), and maybe painting the lense green/red. No wiring, and inexpensive. Because they are on a stick, they would stand up higher. I would drill a hole through the end of the stick sideways, then put a pin through the front lifting lug on my TI to pin it to the bow lifting lug so it stands straight up on the bow. I never plan to go out at night normally, but there have been times I've been out after dark (when the dang wind died, and you have to pedal/paddle back in).

I have a couple of those white lights on a stick with a suction cup that I keep in the hull which work ok as long as you remember to keep fresh batteries in them (finding a place for the suction cup to stick is another matter).

If out after dark I typically put one on the back of the boat, and the other I put up near the cockpit so I can see, but I invariably end up staring at it, and wrecking my night vision ( LOL), but it does light up the sail so I can be seen.I always pack a good LED flashlight in my drybag so I can look ahead for markers when it's really dark (no moon). My backup Led flashlight also has a hand crank (and weather radio) so I can re-charge by cranking it (handy but far from waterproof). You also have something handy in your hand to throw at them if a drunk go fast powerboat wizz's by too close (if you have anger management issues LOL). If I see a boat approaching I shine my flashlight on my sail just to make sure they see me. At least in Florida, I think you only need the white light near the stern on a kayak at night, the green red lights might be overkill, but I'm no expert.If you go out at night quite a bit it probably wouldn't hurt to put reflective tape around the boat, they might even have green and red that you could put strips on the left and right sides of the bow instead of green red nav lights (just a thought), something like this ( http://www.uline.com/BL_6350/Reflective ... paign=Tape )Sarasota is the go fast boat capital (Cigarette boats) so I worry about these things (especially around spring break time). I'm not allowed (by wife) to even take my kayak out during offshore race week (around July 4th).

PS that flashlight inside the hull idea is a good idea ( an indiglow boat 'cool').Hope this helpsBob

having used my nav lights quite a bit it the last couple days, i would like to suggest a few things

1. Use LED lights- the batteries will last longer and you will be less likely to have a bulb burn out

2. when mounting lights- make sure they can be seen by other boats and even more important- make sure they don't blind you. if you can see the light of any of the lights you will constantly lose your night vision which can be disastrous.

3. hard wire lights are better- because you can't forget them

4. these are what I plan on mounting on my TI, very similar to what i used during the challenge (Sacha's bow is vertical instead of horizontal like the TI, so I had to mount a separate red and green on each side of the bow)

5. these are a little overkill when run at 12 volts, i run mine at 6v, and was seen well over 2 miles away

6. if you do use this anchor light, it can be wired slightly different than what is suggested by the manufacturer. they intend a forward facing light with 225d field of view and 360d fov. we want 135d fov facing the stern and 360d fov anchor light. if you get this light, ask me for details.

I got a nice pair of bow and stern lights made by attwood at Walmart, and mounted them like this

The mounts were made from a poly bucket and lid. The lid had a nice bump in it to recess round head SS screws

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for the stern, I used a mast of ½ inch PVC pipe. The mount connector was a PVC 1 slip to ½ screw, with the slip part sawn off, then drilled and threaded. Bungies hold it down and forward around the rear padeye. It is held there by the mainsheet block, and another carabiner (not shown).The stern light comes with a short 3 part mast, held together by aluminum screw fittings. I used just the top of these, and adapted it to the mast by putting a 5/16 bolt inside the mast. I intend to replace this with a stainless bolt screwed through a hole in a threaded 1/2" PVC cap fitting.On the bottom of the stern mount, I countersunk flat head SS screwsThe rear mount is deliberately not-so-rigid. Although it is behind the sail, if it gets whacked, it can give, and usually stand itself back up.These are quite easy to put on and take off, and involve no modification of the hull itself.The bow lights are kind of low, but I expect can be seen at any distance by most boats, and are kind of there just as a nice nautical touch anyway, since coast guard regulations do not require them on a sailboat of this length.A masthead light would be nice, but harder to rig and control.